John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

I give notice that, on the next day of sitting, I shall move:

That the provisions of paragraphs (5) to (8) of standing order 111 not apply to the following bills, allowing them to be considered during this period of sittings:

Appropriation Bill (No. 5) 2008-2009

Appropriation Bill (No. 6) 2008-2009

Australian Business Investment Partnership Bill 2009

Australian Business Investment Partnership (Consequential Amendment) Bill 2009

Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Political Donations and Other Measures) Bill 2009

Social Security Amendment (Liquid Assets Waiting Period) Bill 2009

Social Security and Veterans’ Entitlements Amendment (Commonwealth Seniors Health Card) Bill 2009

Tax Laws Amendment (2009 Measures No. 1) Bill 2009.

I table statements of reasons justifying the need for these bills to be considered during these sittings and seek leave to have the statements incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The statements read as follows—

Appropriation Bill (No. 5) 2008-2009

Appropriation Bill (No. 6) 2008-2009

Purpose of the bills

These Supplementary Additional Estimates Appropriation Bills request legislative authority for further expenses to be incurred in 2008-2009 in relation to the Building Our Nation Plan announced on 12 December 2008; a range of measures to complement the Nation Building and Jobs Plan and other urgent expenditure.

Reasons for Urgency

Early passage of these bills is required because the 2008-09 funding requirement arising from these measures is too large for the existing appropriations and the Advance to the Finance Minister. Should passage not be granted in the 2009 Autumn sittings, initiatives to be funded by the bills may be deferred or significantly delayed and other activities may exhaust existing funding before the next opportunity to propose appropriation bills.

(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Finance and Deregulation)

Australian Business Investment Partnership Bill 2009

Australian Business Investment Partnership (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2009

Purpose of the bills

The Australian Business Investment Partnership Bill 2009 introduces measures to establish the Australian Business Investment Partnership Limited (ABIP) and to create appropriations for the Government’s investment in the company and the Government guarantee on any additional debt the company issues.

The Australian Business Investment Partnership (Consequential Amendment) Bill 2009 amends paragraph 911A(2)(j) of the Corporations Act 2001 by listing the Australian Business Investment Partnership Limited in furtherance of its objects under the Australian Business Investment Partnership Act 2009, as exempt from the requirement to hold an Australian financial services licence.

Reasons for Urgency

Introduction and passage of the bills is sought in the 2009 Autumn sittings to ensure that ABIP is operational at the earliest possible opportunity.

Global credit conditions are likely to remain tight in 2009. Foreign banks play an important role in the Australian financial system, but global economic conditions mean that some foreign banks may consider withdrawing funding from viable Australian businesses, creating a funding gap. Other lenders, including second tier banks, may also consider withdrawing funding from viable Australian businesses.

Given its highly leveraged nature, the impact of any funding gap is likely to be felt first in the commercial property sector. Withdrawal of finance from viable commercial property projects may force businesses to sell assets in a depressed market, leading to a more rapid and disorderly fall in prices than would otherwise occur, resulting in adverse macroeconomic consequences.

Accordingly, on 24 January 2009 the Prime Minister announced that the Government will establish ABIP as a temporary contingency measure to provide support for viable commercial property assets where there is a withdrawal from refinancing arrangements due to abnormal conditions in global capital markets (Building Australia’s future – a $4 billion Australian Business Investment Partnership to support Australian jobs). The Prime Minister also announced that the Government and Australia’s major banks would work together with a view to having ABIP operational by March 2009.

ABIP will be initially funded at $4 billion, with the Government contribution of $2 billion matched by a $0.5 billion contribution from each of the four major banks. The initial $4 billion funding may be extended via the issuance of Government guaranteed debt to create up to $30 billion in financing.

If the bills are not passed in the 2009 Autumn sittings, there will be no provision to support the commercial property assets of viable Australian commercial property projects, and the jobs and businesses they support, should financiers withdraw funding because of unrelated and uncontrollable fluctuations in global credit markets.

(Circulated by authority of the Treasurer)

Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Political Donations and Other Measures) Bill 2009

Purpose of the bill

The bill primarily amends the funding and disclosure provisions of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (the Electoral Act). The bill contains measures implementing commitments made in the 2007 federal election campaign as well as measures addressing recommendations made by the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters (JSCEM) following its inquiry into the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Political Donations and Other Measures) Bill 2008 (the 2008 Bill).

The amendments in the bill will:

• reduce the disclosure threshold from ‘more than $10,000’ (indexed to the Consumer Price Index annually) to $1,000 (non-indexed);
• require people who make gifts above the threshold to candidates and members of groups during the election disclosure period to furnish a return within 8 weeks after polling day. Agents of candidates and groups have a similar timeframe to furnish a return in relation to gifts received during the disclosure period;
• if they fall within the relevant provision, require people who make gifts, agents of registered political parties, the financial controller of an associated entity, or people who have incurred political expenditure to furnish a return within 8 weeks after 31 December and 30 June each year rather than following the end of each financial year;
• ensure that for the purposes of the $1,000 threshold and the disclosure of gifts, related political parties are treated as the one entity;
• make unlawful the receipt of a gift of foreign property by political parties, candidates and members of a Senate group. It will also be unlawful in some situations for associated entities and people incurring political expenditure to receive a gift of foreign property;
• extend the current prohibition on the receipt of anonymous gifts above the threshold to prohibit the receipt of all anonymous gifts above $50 by registered political parties, candidates and members of a Senate group. It will also be unlawful in some situations for people and candidates to incur political expenditure if an anonymous gift above $50 enabled that political expenditure. The receipt of an anonymous gift of $50 or less may only be received in two specified situations;
• provide that public funding of election campaigning is limited to declared expenditure incurred by the eligible political party, candidate or Senate group, or the sum payable calculated on the number of first preference votes received where they have satisfied the 4% threshold, whichever is the lesser;
• add, with specified restrictions, five additional categories of electoral expenditure. These additional categories are the rental of premises, the payment of additional staff, the purchase and hire of office equipment, consumables and running costs for that equipment and travel and accommodation;
• prevent sitting members of Parliament from claiming electoral expenditure if allowances, entitlements or benefits received by a member of Parliament in his or her capacity as a member are used to meet that expenditure;
• exempt unendorsed candidates and unendorsed members of Senate groups from reporting against the four new categories of electoral expenditure;
• provide for the recovery of gifts of foreign property that are not returned, anonymous gifts that are not returned and undisclosed gifts; and
• introduce new offences and penalties related to the new measures and increase the penalties for existing offence provisions.

Reasons for urgency

The proposed Bill requires introduction and passage in the Autumn 2009 sitting period to give sufficient notice to all those involved in election campaigning – from parties and candidates, Senate groups and associated entities, through to third parties – to amend their record-keeping practices and plan their activities in accordance with the new rules scheduled to come into effect on 1 July 2009.

Introduction and passage of the bill in the Autumn sittings will also provide the Australian Electoral Commission with reasonable time to develop new information technology systems and train staff ahead of the changes, as well as informing stakeholders of the new obligations.

In order to increase transparency and accountability in the funding and disclosure scheme, the bill proposes the introduction of six-monthly reporting combined with shorter deadlines to furnish returns. It is far more efficient if this six monthly reporting commences at the beginning of a new financial year on 1 July, rather than half way through, on 1 January, given the financial-year basis of current reporting.

(Circulated by authority of the Special Minister of State)

Social Security Amendment (Liquid Assets Waiting Period) Bill 2009

Purpose of the bill

The bill implements new measures to double the “maximum reserve” to reduce the number of people subject to and the length of a liquid assets waiting period (LAWP), as recently announced by the Government.

The bill also excludes the surrender value of life insurance policies from the concept of liquid assets for social security purposes.

Reasons for Urgency

The amendments in the bill must be passed before the end of the 2009 Autumn sittings of Parliament to allow for implementation on 1 April 2009. This will ensure the commencement of these measures align with the commencement of related measures in the Household Stimulus Package (No. 2) Act 2009.

(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations)

Social Security And Veterans’ Entitlements Amendment (Commonwealth Seniors Health Card) Bill 2009

Purpose of the bill

The bill provides for adjusted taxable income for the Commonwealth seniors health card to include income from a superannuation stream with a taxed source (gross superannuation) and income salary sacrificed to superannuation.

Reasons for Urgency

Passage of the bill in the 2009 Autumn sittings would enable commencement on 1 July 2009, as part of the Budget strategy.

The seniors health card legislation needs to be in place to give Centrelink and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs the authority to gather the required income information from customers by May 2009 to enable implementation from 1 July 2009.

The information to be gathered is new information that has not been requested previously from this customer group and all cardholders will be required to reply, regardless of whether or not they have the relevant income, increasing the volume of cases to be handled. Once the information is gathered, the agencies will need time to process all the replies for a 1 July 2009 implementation.

(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs)

Tax Laws Amendment (2009 Measures No. 1) Bill 2009

Purpose of the bill

This bill will:

• amend the income definitions used to determine eligibility for particular tax programs to include reportable fringe benefits;
• amend the income definitions used to determine eligibility for relevant tax and transfer system programs to include net financial investment losses, and net rental property losses where appropriate;
• amend the definitions of income used to determine eligibility for relevant government financial assistance programs to include certain salary sacrificed contributions to superannuation;
• tighten the eligibility for the dependency tax offsets;
• improve the operation of the unclaimed money arrangements and facilitate the payment of temporary resident superannuation to the Australian Government; and
• allow a fixed percentage variation of quarterly PAYG instalments for quarterly payers who pay on the basis of GDP-adjusted notional tax instalments four times a year.

Reasons for Urgency

The measures in this bill include four 2008-09 Budget measures, a measure announced as part of the December 2008 ‘Nation Building’ package and another high priority measure. The measures apply from 2 March 2009 to 1 July 2009. Public expectations are that the Government will deliver the measures as early as possible. A delay in delivery will create uncertainty in respect of business planning decisions.

(Circulated by authority of the Treasurer)